Navigating life and finances
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Having paid off another debt, I am super excited to post this mid-month update. So far for March, we have paid off a whopping $3,315.46. For those of you who might be new readers, Hubs and I set a goal to pay off 18(K) in (20)18. Having now already paid off $8,379.33 for the year, we are well on our way to achieving this goal. While our numbers will most likely slow down, we will continue pushing hard. We want this debt gone! Below are our total numbers. [Read more…]
Yikes! After playing the “what if” game probably more times than I should, I decided to go for it and let our checking account get a smidge lower than my usual comfort level. I went ahead and made one final payment for the month. I need to remind myself that all funds are accounted for, and aside from that, we do also have overdraft protection. [Read more…]
Time for the mid-month update. February sure has been a good month thus far. Thanks to an unexpected check, we were able to pay off a decent amount of debt. We cruised right past our monthly goal of $1,500, and with this update, have paid off $2,768.76! Our total debt payoff for 2018 now stands at $4,463.29. Looking ahead, by the end of the month, we should see over $3,000 in debt reduction. It could be even more if we receive our anticipated escrow refund. [Read more…]
Time to update the numbers! January was indeed quite the month! The highlight, of course, was the refi on our house. Looking at the amortization schedule of our previous 30-year mortgage and now our 15-year, even with rolling in the closing costs, by the end of 2018 we will have paid off more with our new shorter term. Yes, we are paying more each month, but wow! What a difference! I can’t wait to see those numbers drop even faster once we are snowballing the mortgage! [Read more…]
We are making progress!Time for my first mid-month progress update. Having set a defined goal of paying off a minimum of $1500 each month, a mid-monthly update will hopefully give me a much clearer picture of how we are doing. [Read more…]
Despite the many challenges 2017 brought us, we still made progress!With all of our payments now accounted for, I figured I best slip in one last update for 2017. We drew the final line in the sand just twelve months ago. Hard to believe we have already been at this digging out of debt journey for an entire year! Starting debt was $55,749.69 (ouch, I know!) and finished the year t $46,408.39. Ouch on that final number, too, but dumping $9,341.30 is still quite remarkable considering the year we had. [Read more…]
Because “Oh crap” moments are not an option.Now that Hubs and I have a goal to pay off a minimum of $1,500 each month, I realize that I will need more accountability to make sure this happens. I say “I” only because I’m the one who makes sure our creditors receive their money. With Hubs traveling for a living, there is no way he could handle paying the bills. He has enough on his plate with being our primary breadwinner. As long as he sees that we are meeting our goals, he is happy. With that in mind, I realize I can no longer wait to do a monthly update as that could lead to an “oh crap” moment. [Read more…]
To win our war on debt, we need to know what we are battling.It has been quite some time since I updated our numbers. The last third of this year has been one thing after another with our finances. Starting with major car repairs, transferring balances and medical bills of over $4300, I knew our debt would go up. Adding to all of that, with Hubs being off for an entire month, we lost a twelfth of our income. Despite that, there are good things. Now with most of our debt being at zero-percent interest, we will see more progress. Hubs again has a clean bill of health, and you certainly can’t put a price tag on that! As for the lost income, it has been a long time since Hubs and I have had an entire month together. [Read more…]
October was a challenge!Life: I’ll try my best to keep my summary brief! As of right now, Hub plans to return to work next week. I left this entirely up to him as only he can determine how he feels. The surgeon said 1-4 weeks, and this would put him at two weeks post-op. I have been spending more time working my FBA business (more on this in another post) and am seeing some positives in that area. The last two days of October, however, were not kind as I dealt with a nasty migraine. Thankfully that is now gone, and I can get back to life! [Read more…]
Choosing to look past the negative and focus on the positive. September was a tough, tough month. Between the costly phone issues with Straight Talk (and then needing to buy a second phone), uber expensive vehicle repairs, balance transfer fees, $195 chimney cleaning/inspection, and finally my 11-month-old Mac crapping out, just keeping our heads above water was a challenge. So how did we do? [Read more…]